Hey, I am a senior in high school where I do winter and spring track. I compete in the shot put in the winter and the shot put and discus in the spring. I am pretty good by high school standards, at least in the region i’m in, wmass (I throw 50’ in shot, and 145’ in disc), but I’m not the strongest of guys (though I’m 6’4", 240 lbs. at 17 years old).
I am currently in-season and will be until about the beginning of june. I did a pretty intense pre-season workout for about 6-weeks and now I am looking for a workout for during the season (maybe more speed-strength work and less low-rep work?).
I am also interested in a solid workout for this summer leading up to throwing at college for the winter (I’ll have about 6 months between seasons). Any and all help or advice would be much appreciated.
I threw disc and shot myself when I was younger. A wonderful resource for training for the disc can be found on Dan John’s site. In case you didn’t know he’s a contributor here, and has some wonderful information gleaned from past WR holders and gold medalists for the discus.
These were my two events in track when I was in high school. My throws were very similar to your numbers when I was a senior but I didn’t have anything close to your size. I was lucky enough to be good friends with one of the top throwers in the state of Florida who taught me the importance of technique.
Since I played football as well, I was doing the football strength program before track practice. During the spring, we would do the typical weight lifting routine, but follow it up with about 20-25 minutes of plyometric work. I saw a significant increase in my throws with the explosion work.
Good luck this season. With your numbers, I’m sure you will win quite a few of your meets.
The net is probably your best resource because most everything elite throwers do is chronicalled on one website or another. In my own personal experience I would recomend training girp strength individually twice a week. Most of the problem I see college throwers are with the back, shoulder, elbow and hand. This is not a huge revelation but the deal is few people fully consider the amount of strss the hand goes through when moving up in weight as you do in college. Plus it helps your confidence to be able to grab the thing and hold on to it firmly.
Plus if you are a glider I work on backward sled pulls to help a variety of things specific to the glide technique.
Definantly follow the advice of Dan John there is great stuff on his site.
I will even include a picture of myself just so you know I have thrown before. This is one from my freshman year of college.
Good luck on your quest, shot and disc have been great parts of my life.
six foot three and I was 18 then, things have changed for the better. When that pic was taken I probably squatted less than I could bench. Then again my legs have never gotten huge because I have always been more about the end result of getting stronger. Plus I really do believe I am built kind of wierd any way.
As an aside, I am pleased that a comment about my legs came so fast. People around here seem to be very observent about two things: girls asses, and guys legs.
leg power is especially important for throwing. Power squating is a good start which is what you are doing I bet? As in the gaining strength without gaining size comment usually reflects this, add front squats too, have them a main squatting movement for a few months.
As has been said, you’ll want to really work on the lifts that will help with speed and explosiveness. Throwers do well with a diet of power cleans w/a high catch, push presses, jerks, and front squats.
This is not to say that the other lifts aren’t important but those, I believe, are important.
anybody got any lifting programs that are real good for the throws?[/quote]
As others have said, go to Dan John’s website. After reading all of the info there (this will take a while!), you’ll have more workout ideas for discus throwing than you can poke a stick at.
